Candidates pursuing teacher training courses are eligible for the Teacher Eligibility Test, regardless of their year of study, as clarified by the Supreme Court and NCTE.

JUDGMENT :

J. NISHA BANU, J.

These writ appeals are filed against the common order dated 02.08.2024 made in W.P(MD)Nos.18804, 18387, 18386, 18388 and 18389 of 2024.

2. The facts leading to the filing of these writ appeals are as follows:

The 1^st respondent in all the writ appeals / writ petitioners appeared in the examination for direct recruitment to the posts of Graduate Assistant / Block Resource Teacher Educators (BRTE)-2023, called for by the Teachers Recruitment Board. They have also possessed the qualification of Teacher Eligibility Test(TET). They were successful in the written examination and thereafter, they participated in the certificate verification. However, their candidature were rejected on the ground that they were not pursuing final year of B.Ed., degree when they appeared for the Teacher Eligibility Test. Challenging such rejection, the 1^st respondent in all these appeals filed writ petitions.

2.1. Before the Writ Court, the 1^st respondent in all the appeals had contended that as per the Notification No.1 / 2022 of the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB), dated 07.03.2022, any candidate having qualified in B.Ed., programme recognised by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), or a person who is pursuing any of the Teacher Education Course, is eligible to apply to the said post and therefore, the rejection of the candidature, stating that the writ petitioners were pursuing second year of B.Ed., degree, while they appeared in the Teacher Eligibility Test, is arbitrary.

2.2. Countering to the said contentions, the department had contended before the Writ Court that merely because the writ petitioners were allowed to write the written examination, it does not mean that they are the eligible candidates, yet they have to satisfy the eligibility criteria as per the recruitment notification. In this regard, the Writ Court took note of the clarificatory letter dated 04.08.2022 issued by the National Council for Teachers Education pursuant to the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Omkar Singh and others vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and others, reported in (2021) 14 SCC 486. Holding that the word 'pursuing' finds place in the recruitment notification can only mean undergoing or proceeding further and a limited interpretation that the candidate who is pursuing the requisite course should be in the final year, cannot be given, the Writ Court set aside the impugned rejection order insofar as the 1^st respondent in these appeals are concerned and allowed the writ petitions. The relevant passage of the common order passed by the Writ Court is worth reproduction:

''8. The above clarification has been consequent to the order made by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No.5564/2019 (arose from S.L.P.(C).No.16698 of 2018 and it was disposed of on 16.07.2019. In fact, the subject matter of the above proceedings is the interpretation for the word “pursuing” adopted in similar such Notification issued by the State of Punjab. A doubt was raised by some of the candidates with regard to the word “Pursuing”. While disposing of those litigations, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has given the following order:

“Para 8.3 ... as per dictionary meaning, the word “Pursuing” means undergoing and / or proceeding further. Therefore, a candidate who has been admitted in any of the TTC and undergoing the teacher training course (TTC) can be said to be “Pursuing” such teacher training course and shall be eligible to appear in the TET examination, irrespective of the fact that whether, by the last date specified for filling up the online form for TET examination, he has, in fact, appeared in the examination of the concerned teacher training course and the result is awaited. “Pursuing” the requisite teacher training course is sufficient to make such a candidate eligible to appear in the TET examination. Therefore, on a fair reading of Clause 5(ii) of the NCTE guidelines, a person who has been admitted in TTC and is pursuing, he / she can appear i